stories from an amateur adventurer

Menu

Fridays are for saying goodbye to 26.

I turn 27 tomorrow. I’m not going to get overly emotional or retrospective or anything, but my twenty-sixth year has been something special. This past year will go down in the history books as the year I grew old. And here are five reasons why:

1. I stopped getting carded. I thought this might stop when I got my wedding ring, or whenever I eat out with my bearded husband. But it didn’t stop until this year: suddenly, I look older than 21. Or, according to those yellow and red labels and the liquor store, I look “over 30”. Yikes.

2. I cry at the news. It started with the shooting at Newtown. But who didn’t cry then, right? I’m not really a crier. Greeting cards and baby commercials don’t move me to tears. But I could not stop. I cried reading twitter. I cried in church. And now I can’t even watch the news. And if something big is trending on twitter, forget about it.

3. I started wearing sunscreen all the time. Those wrinkles might not be here yet, but they are in the future. They’re coming for me. And who cares if I am tan? No one. Who cares if I look like a pug when I turn thirty? Everyone. (That might be a slight exaggeration. You know what I mean.)

4. I don’t really like to drive anymore. I loved to drive. I drove a shuttle in college. I was always the one that offered to take people places. And now? I told Shawn that I didn’t want to meet him for dinner tonight because I couldn’t bear the thought of getting back in my car.

5. Erasing McDonald’s from my diet does not automatically make me lose weight. This did use to work, actually, and now it doesn’t.

To celebrate growing old, I will work all day on Saturday and tonight I am taking Mowgli to the vet for a split toe nail. Both promise to be good times! Have a great weekend!